Investigate
Investigate is a Milly Molly episode. It begins with Milly Mandara and Molly Horren walking along taking pictures, when they hear a scream in Aunt Maude's voice. They worriedly run into her garden and Molly asks if she is all right and Aunt Maude replies "No, I am not alright" which is her standard response to that question anyway. Turns out someone or something has been making holes in her vegetables. She shows John Oddbottom an affected carrot. He replies that he has observed that an element of pestilence has set upon her agricultural produce. The girls whisper to each other that they don't know what that means. Aunt Maude goes on that it has happened to both her carrots and her lettuce and asks what to do for help. He replies that under Council Bylaw 125-B, once a council official has identified the offending pest, vermin or stray, the official has the right to obtain, apprehend or otherwise halt that pest, vermin or stray, and has the authority to determine (the girls shrug as they don't know what "determine" or "authority" means) whatever course of action to prevent further transgression. Aunt Maude asks "So, you are going to catch the culprit and stop them from eating my vegetables?" He replies "That's what I said" and the girls say "Oh" as in "That's what "authority" means". Aunt Maude accidentally calls him Mr.Underpants and he says "It's Oddbottom". The girls are worried as they wonder what would happen if it was a pet that ate Aunt Maude's vegetables. Aunt Maude says "I am not a cruel person, Mr.Funnybottom, but I want whatever did this taken care of permanently". Mr.Oddbottom replies "I concur, and it's Oddbottom". The girls decide they will have to find the thing that ate Aunt Maude's vegetables before the grownups do, so they look for clues like detectives. They find a four-toed paw print and Molly takes a photograph of it. They realize both Marmalade and Tom Cat have four toes on each foot (making them both have sixteen toes each). They worriedly rush to Molly's apartment, print out the photo and compare it to Tom Cat's paw, but the middle of the paw is different. Molly says "I knew you were a good boy". They try to see if Zoldan has the same footprints as he also has four toes but his paws are too large and the wrong shape. Humphrey claims that an alien from Neptune made the paw print, but the girls don't believe him. Milly says that even if there was life on Neptune, why would an alien come all the way from Neptune to eat Aunt Maude's vegetables. Humphrey says that it is a scientific fact that there are no vegetables on Neptune (which is true), so they must have been hungry. Both girls are still not too sure (as how could any aliens exist if there was nothing for them to eat?) On the playground, the girls inspect Roger, as they are worried that Mr.Oddbottom might hurt or kill the animal if he found it first. Roger is out of the question as he has hooves. Jock has claws, not paws. Prince is inspected, too, but the idea he ate them is silly as his feet are too big and hooves. The girls are skipping along, when they run into Elizabeth and Mr Cottonbottom and find out the rabbit has the same feet as the photograph. Molly asks if Mr.Cottonbottom and Mr.Oddbottom are related. Just then, the man in question shows up. He inspects the rabbit hutch. Elizabeth offers to pat the bunny, but he doesn't want to. All three girls point out that Mr.Cottonbottom is friendly and can't escape. Milly asks if he doesn't like animals, but he replies he likes all animals, plants, insects and fungi. Elizabeth tearfully asks if Mr.Oddbottom is going to take her pet away. He gets a phone call from Aunt Maude, who has misnamed him again and noticed another rabbit has been attacking her produce, so it wasn't Mr.Cottonbottom. They then trap the rabbit that ate Aunt Maude's vegetables. Milly and Molly wonder if someone owns him. Molly asks what Mr.Oddbottom will do to the rabbit and he replies that he will take the rabbit to the vet for a checkup and have her keep him, but if no one claims him after a week, Mr.Oddbottom will have to put him in Enclosure 2-11-B. Molly asks what putting an animal in Enclosure 2-11-B means, and he replies that the council can't afford to feed and house abandoned animals forever and it is a pity there are no responsible owners around. The girls worry that means something bad would happen to the rabbit. For the next week, they put up Rabbit Found ads and visit the vet after school to see if anyone had claimed the rabbit. Milly's father does not want Milly to keep the rabbit as Marmalade might eat him. Mrs.Horren says there is no room for the rabbit in Molly's apartment. On the last day of the week, the girls run into the veterinarian's office. It turns out Mr.Oddbottom has already collected the rabbit. They run to the council building but Mr.Oddbottom is not there, so they find in the address book only one Oddbottom, who lives near Molly's, so they visit there. Mr.Oddbottom asks if he can be of assistance. The girls beg him not to hurt the little rabbit, and he said that he dealt with the rabbit, and shows them a cage called Enclosure 2-11-B, where he keeps several homeless rabbits. The girls look around and find enclosures all around full of animals of all kinds. They are his pets, and Aunt Maude assists him, but still can't get his name right.